And it has no bearing, anyway.

I should not have brought it up, for I have known good men funk in my time--buck fever, as it were.

And now let us dismiss it all from our minds.

I merely wished to suggest, and I suppose I have bungled.

But understand this, Frona," turning her face up to his, "understand above all things and in spite of them, first, last, and always, that you are my daughter, and that I believe your life is sacredly yours, not mine, yours to deal with and to make or mar.